Thursday, December 18, 2014

5 Steps to Manage Holiday Stress

       It’s not uncommon to hear that people are entering the holiday season with an overwhelming feeling of dread.  For many of us, the holiday season highlights the things that we are missing in our lives.  The holiday blues often include: pressure to feel joyful, remembering past holidays, thoughts of lost loved ones, loneliness, money problems, and winter weather/lack of sunlight.  
  1. Despite the difficulties of the holiday season, there are things we can do to lessen our stress. 
  2. Don’t dismiss the way you feel, forcing yourself to feel a particular way may make you feel worse.  
  3. Try to get in twenty minutes of sun daily.  Both exercise and sun can help maintain healthy chemical balances in your body that keep depression and stress under control.  
  4.  Volunteer to help someone else (soup kitchen, nursing home, homeless shelter, etc.).  
  5.  Create new traditions that incorporate things you enjoy.  
  6.  Stay busy and fill your calendar with pleasurable events or people.  
Being prepared for the holidays will help to navigate them with less stress and depression.  One of the most important things you can do to alleviate holiday negativity is to recognize the positives in your life.  Take the time to do some self-reflection and identify all of the things you have going for you.  Incorporating these things along with some healthy perspective can make your holiday season much more manageable and enjoyable.  

Written by: Amanda Furca, Graduate Level Intern, Loring Therapy LLC
loringtherapy.com
Adapted from the 2006 Psych Central Article, “Beating the Holiday Blues,” by Maud Purcell. 

http://psychcentral.com/lib/beating-the-holiday-blues/000390

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